Thanks for the Wrong Order!

How would you feel receiving the wrong meal in a restaurant? Dine at The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders in Tokyo, Japan, and as the name implies, you have about a 1 in 3 chance you won’t be served what you asked for, but those odds are there for the best reason:

"The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders employs people with dementia as servers, fully knowing that sometimes they're going to get customers' orders wrong. Customers who eat there know this fact as well. It's all just part of the adventure of dining at a restaurant designed to increase kindness and reduce isolation for people with cognitive impairments," according to a story on Upworthy.

The restaurant is a collaboration between Shiro Oguni and a group home for people with dementia.

"The restaurant is not about whether orders are executed incorrectly or not," noted Oguni. "The important thing is the interaction with people who have dementia."

Upworthy notes, "It's a win-win. The people with dementia aren't as isolated, and 99% of the people who visit The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders leave feeling happy."

This article left me wondering whether we might apply the same concept in early childhood environments, where ‘mistakes’ are par for the course. What can shift when we truly prioritize connection and belonging over milestones and standards?

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